The blog of cooking-ez.com

The peak of the apple season


The peak of the apple season
As I write these lines, we are in the middle of the apple season, and it's an apple year, as you may have noticed if you have apple trees around you, they are bursting with fruit!

Excellent news for the people in the west of France in particular, but let's have a little thought for those in the east where it's a completely different story, the late spring frost has done a lot of damage, an almost blank year for apples and other fruits in some regions.
5,143 5/5 based on 13 reviews
Grade this page:

Last modified on: October 23th 2021

Keywords for this post:ApplesSeasonGoldenApple peelerTaste
The peak of the apple season

tarte aux pommes

It's the season, as I said, and you have to take advantage of it as much as possible, even if apples keep pretty well over time.
So, let's go for all kinds of recipes: cakes, pies, compotes, baked, etc. It's delicious, and it can be used with all varieties of apples, which are often called in french "knife apples" to differentiate them from "cider apples".

In France, there are probably as many varieties of apples as there are cheeses, some of which are very well known, such as "golden", "reinette", "granny-smith" etc. And others much less well known and often very local, like the "reinettes d'Armorique", "calville", "belle fille normande", etc.
Of course, they are generally not very popular, you will hardly find them in supermarkets, but you can find them on the markets or with local producers, or with enthusiasts, who try to maintain (with difficulty) this greedy heritage.

As far as apples and recipes are concerned, in cooking and pastry-making, there are no rules, you can use any apple in any recipe, in theory... In practice it is a bit more delicate, and here are some points that deserve your attention:

- It's always good to remember, apples are overall quite fragile and susceptible to insect attack, so it's perfectly normal to have fruit that's a bit stained, a bit ugly, and not at all like the apples in the shiny, smooth, perfectly round in commercials. Surface imperfections are a sign of a lack of chemical treatments, and therefore a good sign, whereas a fruit that is "too" beautiful, especially with those stupid individual sticker labels, is always a bit fishy in my eyes. Long live ugly apples!

- Some apples don't do well with baking, granny-smiths for example, but that's almost an exception, and not an absolute rule either.

pommes golden

- The golden apple (above) is the archetype of the fruit that has been over-selected, processed and improved, to finally obtain an apple, certainly very pretty on the outside, but with a rather bland taste.
In my opinion, this is the apple to avoid, and to turn to more typical apples, which are much better in taste and health.


pommes reinettes

- The whole family of reinettes, and in particular the "reine des reinettes" (above) give an excellent and delicious result when cooked, their small natural acidity gives absolutely divine tarts (and in particular the tarte tatin).

- Whatever the recipe you are going to make, compote, tart or other, it is always very interesting to mix several varieties, rather sweet with rather sour for example. The taste will vary as you eat a pie or a cake, you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.

- The taste of apples changes with time, generally more pronounced, a little more acidic after the harvest, and softening with time.


épluche-pommes

- If you like and prepare apples often, I strongly advise you to invest in an apple peeler (pictured above) which peels, cores, and slices, it's not very expensive and makes life incredibly easy. If you decide on a whim to make an apple crumble for example, the simplest of cakes without doubt and adored by children because they can put their hands in the dough, a crumble then, with this tool, in 10 minutes of clock it is in the oven.



In summary: Make the most of the apple season, opt for local varieties if you can find them, avoid golden ones and invest in an apple peeler if possible and... eat apples!






Lasts posts
Clean your mixer easily
Clean your mixer easily
If you use a "bowl" or "blender" mixer, as opposed to a plunger, you've probably noticed that it's a bit of a hassle to clean it after use. And yet, with a simple trick, it can be done very quickly. See how here.
1,4935 June 26th 2024
Preserving egg yolks
Preserving egg yolks
If you're using only the egg whites in a recipe (such as meringues ), you'll need to store the yolks until you're ready to use them again. There's nothing very complicated about this in principle - all you have to do is chill them, but there are a few pitfalls to be avoided in practice.
2,0165 June 18th 2024
Preservative oil, an asset for taste
Preservative oil, an asset for taste
When you prepare a dish using an ingredient that has been preserved in fat, for example a springtime mixed salad with tuna in oil or sun-dried tomatoes, you're probably going to make a french dressing (vinaigrette) next. In that case, why not use the preserved oil from the tuna or tomatoes?
2,1805 June 5th 2024
Don't throw away disposable piping bags
Don't throw away disposable piping bags
Nowadays, it's fairly easy to find what professionals use as piping bags, i.e. disposable or "single-use" plastic ones. They're practical, functional and inexpensive, but disposable? That's debatable...
3,5645 May 28th 2024
Should asparagus really be cooked in bunches?
Should asparagus really be cooked in bunches?
You'll probably read recipes here and there explaining how to cook asparagus "en botte", i.e. in a small package (the famous "botte"). Is this really the right way to cook asparagus?
2,7225 May 22th 2024
Other pages you may also like
Let's go easy on the salt
Let's go easy on the salt
In terms of cooking, I'm probably not teaching you much, salt is ubiquitous, we put it in almost all our dishes, in varying amounts depending on our taste, some like salty, others less, others still not. Its main role is the flavor, the taste, we say that it is a flavor enhancer, ie it reveals the...
4,7654.8 February 20th 2021
Vitamin C against blackening
Vitamin C against blackening
You've probably heard of this tip: to prevent fruit or vegetables from turning brown or black, simply add or sprinkle lemon juice over them. It's very effective, but why does lemon juice have this effect?
6,005 15 July 14th 2023
The baker always gild twice
The baker always gild twice
I've already told you about gilding, the beaten whole egg that is spread with a brush on anything that needs to brown in the oven: puff pastry, pastries, etc. and that professionals use a lot, I'm going to come back to this to clarify a bit how to do it, and give you a professional tip.
27K4.2 June 9th 2019
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
You've probably already noticed that at the end of a pizza meal, at least half of the participants have left the crusts in the boxes or on the plates that many don't eat. Naturally, one would tend to put them "to the birds", or worse, to throw them away, and it's a shame because they are in fact...
5,2104.9 April 22th 2023
Tranché, dissociated, failed, in short... missed!
Tranché, dissociated, failed, in short... missed!
When preparing a sauce or a cream, there's always a (small) risk that the creamy preparation you're working on will suddenly separate into two parts of different textures: a liquid part, for example, and a more or less solid part, or even become lumpy. It's terribly frustrating, but we'll see...
6,1055 June 19th 2023
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page